The New York Times – Sunday, May 11, 2025

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Trump Seeks to Strip Away Legal Tool Key to Civil Rights Enforcement

President Trump has ordered federal agencies to halt their use of “disparate-impact liability,” which has been used to assess whether policies discriminate against different groups.

Pope’s Childhood in a Changing Chicago Tells a Story of Catholic America

The pope grew up in a Catholic enclave on Chicago’s South Side. That community is gone now.

Leo Lived Here: The Price Goes Up for the Pope’s Childhood Home

After Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was selected to become the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, offers began flooding in to buy this modest house outside Chicago, the real estate broker said.

India and Pakistan Announce Cease-Fire but Clashes Persist

President Trump also announced the truce, saying it had been mediated by the United States, although only Pakistan quickly acknowledged an American role.

The New York Times Magazine – May 12, 2025

Current cover

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (May 10, 2025): The 5.11.25 Issue features Susan Dominus on the growing body of research on the influence of siblings; Jamie Thompson on the police suicide crisis; Binyamin Appelbaum on President Trump’s attempt to turn back the U.S.’s economic clock; David Marchese interviews poet and author Ocean Vuong; and more.

Can Whitney Wolfe Herd Make Us Love Dating Apps Again?

The Bumble CEO has returned to run the struggling company she founded, and says she has a plan for getting Gen Z back By Lulu Garcia-Navarro

Why Do More Police Officers Die by Suicide Than in the Line of Duty?

His friend and fellow cop killed himself. Then he nearly became a statistic as well. Why do more police officers die by suicide than in the line of duty? By Jamie ThompsonCreditDanny Wilcox Frazier for The New York Times

The Surprising Ways That Siblings Shape Our Lives

Parents try everything to influence their children. But new research suggests brothers and sisters have their own profound impact. By Susan Dominus

The $200 Billion Gamble: Bill Gates’s Plan to Wind Down His Foundation

In a wide-ranging interview, he explains his decision —

Barron’s Magazine – May 12, 2025 Financial Preview

Magazine - Latest Issue - Barron's

BARRON’S MAGAZINE (May 10, 2025): The latest issue features ‘The New War Machines’ – Ai- enhanced weaponry is replacing long-established military programs. Which companies stand to gain.

Defense Stocks Are Under Fire. How to Play the New World Order.

Traditional contractors L3Harris and Northrop look like winners. Upstarts like AeroVironment, Karman, and Kratos are worth watching, too.

Sphere Entertainment Has a Dazzling Arena. The Stock Is Undervalued.

Sphere is part of the Dolan empire, and its shares look cheap relative to the company’s assets.

Trump’s Tariffs Rattle Small Businesses. Four Survival Stories.

Small, privately held businesses often lack the resources and financial strength to survive high tariffs against their trade partners. How some are coping.

The New York Times – Saturday, May 10, 2025

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Pope Leo XIV Echoes Francis in His First Mass, Aligning Himself With ‘Ordinary People’

In his advocacy of the poor, migrants and a more open church, many people see the new pope as a continuation of his predecessor.

An American Pope Emerges as a Potential Contrast to Trump on the World Stage

Pope Leo XIV’s focus on refugees and his pluralistic background may offer a different view of U.S. values from the president’s America First approach.

In Chiclayo, Peru, Locals Cheer the ‘Peruvian Pope’

From delivering help to flood-ravaged regions to singing Christmas songs to blessing babies, Pope Leo XIV tried to be a cleric of the people in Peru.

The New York Times – Friday, May 9, 2025

Pope Leo XIV, the First American Pontiff, Took a Global Route to the Top Post

Robert Francis Prevost, who led the Vatican office that selects and manages bishops around the world, has spent much of his life outside the United States.

U.S.-U.K. Trade Deal to Build on Close Ties but Leave Some Tariffs in Place

Much of the agreement President Trump unveiled Thursday still needs to be negotiated, but the administration said the deal with one of America’s closest allies would be the first of many.

Europe Alone and in Shock on V-E Day

On the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat, echoes of tyrannies past shake a continent that is trying to find its footing in the face of President Trump’s hostility.

THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS – MAY 29, 2025

THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS (May 8, 2025): The latest issue features…

‘There’s Nothing for Me Here’

What caused Venezuela’s collapse, and who is responsible? A recent memoir tells the story as so many families have lived it.

Motherland: The Disintegration of a Family in a Collapsed Venezuela by Paula Ramón, with translations by Julia Sanches and Jennifer Shyue

Things Are Never So Bad That They Can’t Get Worse: Inside the Collapse of Venezuela by William Neuman

The Spy in the Jeu de Paume

The detailed information gathered by the French curator Rose Valland about the Nazis’ looting of artworks made it possible for the Allies to recover tens of thousands of them after World War II.

The Art Front: The Defense of French Collections, 1939–1945 by Rose Valland, translated from the French by Ophélie Jouan, with a foreword by Robert M. Edsel


Doing Their Own Research

An electoral coalition of the conspiracy cultures of both the Christian right and the countercultural left helped bring Donald Trump back to power, and now pseudoscience and paranoia are in the ascendant.

Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Health Threat by Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, and Julian Walker

Fascist Yoga: Grifters, Occultists, White Supremacists and the New Order in Wellness by Stewart Home

The Economist Magazine – May 10, 2025 Preview

THE ECONOMIST MAGAZINE (May 8, 2025): The latest issue features All grown up: Saudi Arabia’s surprising transformation‘…

Saudi Arabia is pulling off an astonishing transformation

Muhammad bin Salman is going from troublemaker to peacemaker

What Putin wants—and how Europe should thwart him

Many Europeans are complacent about the threat Russia poses—and misunderstand how to deter its president

Luck stands between de-escalation and disaster for India and Pakistan

Sooner or later, the luck will run out

The war in Gaza must end

America should press Binyamin Netanyahu to accept a ceasefire, then press Hamas to disarm

Donald Trump is right to ditch Joe Biden’s chip-export rules

Time to get realistic

THE NEW YORK TIMES – THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2025

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China Agreed to U.S. Tariff Talks but Is Likely to Play Hardball

Beijing says it will meet with American officials to discuss trade, but warned Washington against using the engagement to ratchet up pressure on China.

3 Former Officers Acquitted of All State Charges in Tyre Nichols’s Death

The former Memphis officers had been charged with second-degree murder and other crimes in the beating death of Mr. Nichols.

Waiting for the Smoke That Heralds a New Pope

As 133 cardinals were sequestered in the Sistine Chapel where they would vote for a new leader of the Catholic Church, the faithful and the curious gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY – MAY 9, 2025 POLITICS PREVIEW

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY (May 7, 2025): The latest issue features ‘Trump meets political gravity’…

The Weekly’s cover focuses on the US president, who has at last been feeling the pull of domestic political gravity. Trump’s chaotic first 100 days in office – marked last week – have featured a blitz of sweeping and vengeful changes to America that have been hard to fully compute. But as the US economy falters and his poll ratings sink, David Smith asks whether the seemingly unchallengeable president is showing some signs of vulnerability.


Five essential reads in this week’s edition

Spotlight | Russia’s new sabotage campaign in Europe
Moscow’s intelligence services have launched a new type of attack on the west, violent but piecemeal and hard to prove, writes Shaun Walker

Spotlight | Palestinians face difficult decisions over future in Gaza
As Israel’s aid blockade rumbles on and humanitarian zones disappear, fears of a ‘second Nakba’ are being realised. Bethan McKernan reports

Feature | How Ticketmaster ate the live music industry
From grassroots gigs to stadium shows, there’s no escaping the ticketing giant, making billions from increasing prices (and whacking on fees). Dorian Lynskey investigates who is really to blame for the great rock’n’roll rip-off

Opinion | We recall the joy of VE Day. My worry is what we forget
In 1945, Sheila Hancock’s street party tea was a muted celebration, full of uncertainty. Then, as now, we faced a long struggle towards a better world

Culture | Black Sabbath on reconciling for their final gig
Heavy metal’s godfathers are preparing a star-studded farewell – but will Ozzy Osbourne be well enough to perform? In their first interview for two decades, the original lineup talk to Alexis Petridis

NATURE MAGAZINE – MAY 8, 2025 RESEARCH PREVIEW

Volume 641 Issue 8062

NATURE MAGAZINE (May 7, 2025): The latest issue features ‘Relative Gains’ – Complete genome sequences for six ape species offer insights into human evolution…

Storm of seizures in a baby’s brain calms after trial therapy

The treatment, which aimed to block production of a mutant protein, reduced the frequency of infant’s seizures, but did not improve neurological impairments.

Tattoo-making tools used by ancient Maya revealed

The stone fragments had been discovered inside ‘Handprint Cave’ in Belize alongside other artefacts suggestive of ritual use.

One of the world’s richest lithium deposits began inside a mega-volcano

Lithium that pooled in a volcanic caldera in the western United States had no way out, thanks to a lack of rivers.

For these bats, eavesdropping is a valuable learnt skill

Over time, young fringe-lipped bats learn how to distinguish the calls of palatable frogs from those of toxic ones.

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